Centro Tenders 27th October

[PM]

I think Simon mentioned before that the 4/4H/4M service is being considered and may be some changes may occur when I mentioned about the sunday services hopefully these will be reinstated in the coming months.

Also the problem with losing so many tenders is that there will be less work for drivers so either more commercial work has to be taken on or drivers are moved elsewhere in the business or made redundant.

This too many drivers thing has happened before when redditch/kidderminster were acquired but funnily enough there were no redundancies and they were soon advertising for drivers-think they still are so a lot jumped ship. Yeah the 4 group could use evening/sunday services as could the 002 to take up the slack made by the loss of contracts though its long acre who will suffer as they cannot really improve any routes-ie 16/50 already have early/evening/sunday services though chucking a few extra buses on the 16/50 is never a bad thing to be honest. And I would look again at the 004 as hansons seem to be doing ok on it so free buses 5 mins beforehand would be a good start, get the route and stick some decent longer darts on it and it would take off or possibly even curtail it to quinton to merry hill. 202 can be improved with an extension to merry hill and redditch-adding to the network. Could some of the birmingham routes not be looked again at as well and possibly if long acre have too many drivers and redditch not enough drivers or space, could the 146 improved obviously be transferred to long acre to free up some room at redditch as more land cannot be acquired overnight. I would like to see more commercial route improvements in order to compensate for the loss of contracted work. I really would look again at some of the axed commercial routes that they didnt allow time to take off eg 529e-3 months!!!

[winston]

I think Simon mentioned before that the 4/4H/4M service is being considered and may be some changes may occur when I mentioned about the sunday services hopefully these will be reinstated in the coming months.

Also the problem with losing so many tenders is that there will be less work for drivers so either more commercial work has to be taken on or drivers are moved elsewhere in the business or made redundant.

This too many drivers thing has happened before when redditch/kidderminster were acquired but funnily enough there were no redundancies and they were soon advertising for drivers-think they still are so a lot jumped ship. Yeah the 4 group could use evening/sunday services as could the 002 to take up the slack made by the loss of contracts though its long acre who will suffer as they cannot really improve any routes-ie 16/50 already have early/evening/sunday services though chucking a few extra buses on the 16/50 is never a bad thing to be honest. And I would look again at the 004 as hansons seem to be doing ok on it so free buses 5 mins beforehand would be a good start, get the route and stick some decent longer darts on it and it would take off or possibly even curtail it to quinton to merry hill. 202 can be improved with an extension to merry hill and redditch-adding to the network. Could some of the birmingham routes not be looked again at as well and possibly if long acre have too many drivers and redditch not enough drivers or space, could the 146 improved obviously be transferred to long acre to free up some room at redditch as more land cannot be acquired overnight. I would like to see more commercial route improvements in order to compensate for the loss of contracted work. I really would look again at some of the axed commercial routes that they didnt allow time to take off eg 529e-3 months!!!

What's the point of Diamond running 5 mins infront of Hansons? Effectively trying to push Hansons off an ex Ludlows route that Diamond chose to give up in the first place.... along with the 006, 007 & 230. I suspect Hansons reintroduced the 004 in the first case based on advice from the former Ludlows owner Derek Ludlow who still helps out driving for them on occasions. The 146 definitely has potential for being increased in frequency & operating hours as does the 143, with the 143 possibly also reverting back to Birmingham. I also think the 202 could be doubled in frequency to half hourly an extension to Merry Hill could be an option and possibly Redditch as well to complment/fit with the 143. An alternative to a direct 004 maybe to link Northfield, Selly Oak & Harborne with Merry Hill & fit a new half hourly service with the current 002 to provide a Diamond bus every 10 mins. Extending the 002 operating hours & introduce a Sunday daytime service to suit Merry Hill opening hours is just crying out.....

[the trainbasher]

Anyway going back on topic, I wholeheartedly doubt we shall see any WMSNT registrations on VOSA site (except the Notices And Proceedings) because of the type of O Licence WMSNT use

[bususer12]

Quite a few changes appear to be occurring on 27th October due to Tender changes. There seems to be a lot of potential withdrawals and not a lot of registrations yet (although WMSNT don't appear to be mentioned yet!).

Registrations on VOSA today are...

*327 - Arriva -  Cancelled
*610 - Arriva - Cancelled
*298/299 - Arriva - Cancelled
*288 - Arriva - Cancelled (Confirmed in Birmingham Mail as passing to WMSNT)
*282 - Arriva - Cancelled
*80 - Arriva - Cancelled (Registered today by Diamond)
*224 - Arriva - Cancelled
*19 - Diamond - Cancelled
*44 - Diamond - Cancelled
*140 - Diamond - Cancelled
*22 - Diamond - Cancelled
*64 - Diamond - Cancelled
*287 - Diamond - Cancelled
*53 - Diamond - Cancelled
*240 - Diamond - Cancelled
*24 - Diamond - Cancelled
*19 - Central Buses - Cancelled
*75 - Blue Diamond - Cancelled
*19 - Blue Diamond - Cancelled


Other registrations include...
Diamond on the 647, 243 & 124
Central Buses on the 30 (West Brom - Great Bridge)
Arriva Midlands on the new 310 (Willenhall - Merry Hill)

Interesting, Wonder if the 310 will take off and the route it will take along the way. Also wonder the route of the new Hansons X26. Also, are the diAMOND 243 registration for Evenings and Sundays? Wonder if there is a new op for 287 on Sundays?

[Trident 4609]

Yes the Diamond 243 will be the Evening/Sunday operation. Also in responce to the 310 route it is the 327 (Willenhall-Wednesbury) and the 610 (Wednesbury-Dudley) merged and extended to Merry Hill in which i don't have a clue which path it will take

[bususer12]

So much for new routes, saying that when the buffoons at centro are behind them no wonder the 22 and 24 havent worked.

[Nathan4775]

So much for new routes, saying that when the buffoons at centro are behind them no wonder the 22 and 24 havent worked.

I thought Centro only Funded the routes not ran them ?, is that not up to the garage

[bususer12]

I mean that they have created awful routes to tender out, those and 226w spring to mind

[Ex BC driver]

Quite a few changes appear to be occurring on 27th October due to Tender changes. There seems to be a lot of potential withdrawals and not a lot of registrations yet (although WMSNT don't appear to be mentioned yet!).

Registrations on VOSA today are...

*327 - Arriva -  Cancelled
*610 - Arriva - Cancelled
*298/299 - Arriva - Cancelled
*288 - Arriva - Cancelled (Confirmed in Birmingham Mail as passing to WMSNT)
*282 - Arriva - Cancelled
*80 - Arriva - Cancelled (Registered today by Diamond)
*224 - Arriva - Cancelled
*19 - Diamond - Cancelled
*44 - Diamond - Cancelled
*140 - Diamond - Cancelled
*22 - Diamond - Cancelled
*64 - Diamond - Cancelled
*287 - Diamond - Cancelled
*53 - Diamond - Cancelled
*240 - Diamond - Cancelled
*24 - Diamond - Cancelled
*19 - Central Buses - Cancelled
*75 - Blue Diamond - Cancelled
*19 - Blue Diamond - Cancelled


Other registrations include...
Diamond on the 647, 243 & 124
Central Buses on the 30 (West Brom - Great Bridge)
Arriva Midlands on the new 310 (Willenhall - Merry Hill)

Wonder if Diamond are putting them primos back on 647

[Ash]

Alot of the cancellations by diamond are evening and sunday services. I'm sure introducing a sunday service on services such as the 4/002 at every 15 minutes would use up 10 buses and drivers of whom would have no work.

[winston]

The 19 (Maypole-Longbridge) 22, 24, 64, 75 & 240 are the daytime services that Diamond have lost.

But they have gained daytime routes 124 off Hansons & the 282 off Arriva

Personally, I think Diamond should now focus on growing their commercial services and potentially introduce a few new ones to provide replacement work for drivers & buses. It's clear that Centro tender prices are going to be under pressure for sometime to come whilst WMSNT are still bidding for routes. 

[Kevin]

Intrigued by Diamond registered on the 647, does it mean they've registered to run it commercially or is it just that they've won the tender to run it? Reckon they'll do anything with it / to it?

[sonic84]

With the loss of all this tendered work, now is definitely the time for Diamond to enhance their commercial network.

As with many others on here, an evening and sunday service on the 002 needs to be tried again.  Even if only at evening 30 minutes.  It is well used during the daytime, and Merry Hill is busier on a Sunday than during the week .  There has to be some scope for potential here, even if it only operates during shopping hours.

The 4/4H/4M should be operated during evening and sundays as well.  If it can match the NXWM frequency, then there is potential for this to work too.

With the 007 split several years back, it is worth trialling the 202 to Merry Hill again to restore this link.  If the 202 can be amalgamated with the 143 this would see the Redditch - Merry Hill link once again restored.

The 146 needs improving too.  Firstly, the peak hour offering needs reviewing.  The last bus leaves Birmingham far to early for it to be useful to the avergae 9-5 worker, and with a huge gap between the first and second bus arriving in Birmingham they are missing a trick here.  Secondly, once the 146 leaves Worcestershire it needs to stop at every stop on route.  Several stops along the Pershore Road are 45/47 only.   

Could the 146 be amended to run from Cotteridge, via Linden Road to Selly Oak and then along the Bristol Road as no other service currently links Bournville with Birmingham?  I'm sure any drop in revenue along this section of the Pershore Road would be offset against potential new passengers picked up through Bournville.  It's worth looking into.

[Nathan4775]

anyone know who will be running the 75 ex Blue Diamond route if anyone

[PM]

With the loss of all this tendered work, now is definitely the time for Diamond to enhance their commercial network.

As with many others on here, an evening and sunday service on the 002 needs to be tried again.  Even if only at evening 30 minutes.  It is well used during the daytime, and Merry Hill is busier on a Sunday than during the week .  There has to be some scope for potential here, even if it only operates during shopping hours.

The 4/4H/4M should be operated during evening and sundays as well.  If it can match the NXWM frequency, then there is potential for this to work too.

With the 007 split several years back, it is worth trialling the 202 to Merry Hill again to restore this link.  If the 202 can be amalgamated with the 143 this would see the Redditch - Merry Hill link once again restored.

The 146 needs improving too.  Firstly, the peak hour offering needs reviewing.  The last bus leaves Birmingham far to early for it to be useful to the avergae 9-5 worker, and with a huge gap between the first and second bus arriving in Birmingham they are missing a trick here.  Secondly, once the 146 leaves Worcestershire it needs to stop at every stop on route.  Several stops along the Pershore Road are 45/47 only.   

Could the 146 be amended to run from Cotteridge, via Linden Road to Selly Oak and then along the Bristol Road as no other service currently links Bournville with Birmingham?  I'm sure any drop in revenue along this section of the Pershore Road would be offset against potential new passengers picked up through Bournville.  It's worth looking into.

Some really sensible ideas here from Ash and sonic84 and I agree that buses need to be redeployed on the 002/4/H/M and redditch routes improved. Would it also be worth making the 4M every 30 mins-just before Nx would be great and the same trick with the 56-? renumbered 936 and frequency increased-5 mins before nx again would be nice. If diamond wanted to occupy buses on a sunday then there could be at least 3 working the 002-the full 6 in an evening though until fairly late-maybe centro could offer to subsidise it as a trial?? instead of wasting money on epaper bus stops that is....

Bournville needs better links to Birmingham that is true and I would like to see diamond do this re-routing as well as possibly re-extending the 143 to birmingham possibly called the X43 and made into an express route.